The Trudeau Liberals are expected to announce a 6-month pause on all Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) applications in Montreal, and Montreal only.
The PMO told the state-broadcaster that the move is being done to “ensure the integrity of the temporary foreign worker (TFW) program.”
Starting Sept. 3, LMIA applications won’t be accepted anywhere in Montreal for jobs with wages under $27.47 per hour (Quebec’s median hourly wage).
The development comes just two months after Quebec Premier Francois Legault asked Prime Minister Trudeau to “redistribute” immigrants in Quebec to other provinces.
According to Legault, “Quebec has done more than its fair share” when it comes to immigration, providing support to 60,000 asylum seekers out of the over 1 million immigrants who came into Canada in 2023.
Among the various ways individuals seek citizenship, many foreigners attempt to do so through LMIA, where they can work in Canada for 6 months before proceeding to apply for permanent residency, refugee status, or choose to remain in Canada ‘undocumented’ (illegally) after their work permit expires.
Certain industries have exploited the stability offered by LMIAs, which not only pay employers to staff foreign workers, but they bind workers to a specific job upon arrival in Canada for 6 months—something the UN recently likened to “modern slavery.”
According to Statista, Ontario saw over three times (199,297) as many immigrants as Quebec (64,470) between July 2022 and June 2023. And that’s not including temporary foreign workers and students.
